‘Unfair…’ Pundit hits back at what he is hearing about Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel

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Celtic’s defeat to Rangers will still be stinging ahead of the next Premiership fixture against St Mirren.

The only comfort from the Ibrox fallout is that Celtic are 11 points clear of Rangers in the table and are still on course to win the title.

A lot has been said about Brendan Rodgers’ side’s performance because they have set the bar rather high since he returned to the dugout.

But, on Thursday, not many, if anyone in green and white colours, was able to hold their head up high because it was a display of nightmares.

For someone like Kasper Schmeichel, it would have been a rather interesting afternoon after signing for the club in the summer.

The 38-year-old would have gone from winning his first two Glasgow derbies, including Celtic’s famous League Cup final triumph via a penalty shootout, to then getting a big wake-up call.

But noise around Celtic’s number goalkeeper post-Rangers was shut down by Scott Allan.

Scott Allan defends Kasper Schmeichel after Celtic’s defeat at Rangers

Just like at Hampden, the issue with Celtic’s performance at Ibrox is that they conceded early and put themselves on the back foot.

Ianis Hagi was the man to open the scoring with a low driving effort from the edge of the box and it was suggested that Schmeichel should have saved the goal.

But Allan told Clyde1 Superscoreboard that it’s ‘unfair’ on the Denmark international and it’s an ‘easy’ thing to label on the shot-stopper.

“Scott, what do you think about the first goal?” asked presenter Gordon Duncan. “I heard some suggestions that Kasper Schmeichel should have done better. Is that on the money? Is it unfair?”

Allan responded: “I think it’s slightly unfair. I think, the way Hagi hits it, you are always taught as a player, if you hit it early, then you take the goalkeeper by surprise and I think he did. He then tries to get across to it.

“I just think it’s a good finish. From Rangers’ point of view, it’s an easy one to label on the goalkeeper because it’s from such a distance and it’s low. But, not for me.”

Schmeichel’s stats for Celtic this season

Yes, there would have been an inquest and a few stern words would have been said in the hours after the Ibrox defeat.

But, pretty quickly, the attention would have turned to Celtic’s home clash against St Mirren on Sunday and trying to put three more points on the board.

Schmeichel replaced Joe Hart in the summer and has done a pretty good job so far, including already lifting his first trophy in Celtic colours and has only shipped seven goals in 19 matches.

Competition		Apps	Goals conceded	Clean Sheets	Minutes
	Premiership	19	7	15	1.710′
	UEFA Champions League	6	10	2	540′
	League Cup	4	6	1	390′
Total 24/25:		29	23	18	2.640′